Bahrainis through to handball semi-finals

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain secured their berth in the semi-finals of the men’s handball tournament yesterday at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Kingdom’s senior national team outclassed their counterparts from Iran 29-20 for their second straight win in Group One of the competition’s main round.

That, coupled with Kuwait’s dramatic, last-second 25-24 victory over South Korea in yesterday’s other divisional clash, ensured both the Bahrainis’ and Kuwaitis’ places in the final four.

Bahrain also remained unbeaten after four contests, which include their two preliminary round fixtures.

The nationals improved to four points on the Group One table with yesterday’s result.

They complete their main round campaign today against Kuwait in a game scheduled for a 1pm start, Bahrain time.

The match will determine the Group One winners and set up the pairings in the last four.

Only the top two teams in each of this stage’s two groups advance to the semis, which will be played on Tuesday.

The gold and bronze medal matches are set for Thursday.

Qatar and Japan had also already secured their places in the semi-finals yesterday with wins over China and Kazakhstan, respectively, in Group Two.

The Qataris and Japanese face off today for group supremacy.

Bahrain finished their first half against Iran strong and never looked back.

After falling behind 5-6 with just over 10 minutes to play before the break, a Mohammed Habib Nasser goal tied the proceedings and then two straight from Mohammed Habib Ahmed gave them an 8-6 lead.

They scored another four goals while conceding just one to head into the interval up 12-7.

The Bahrainis then gradually widened the gap over the final 30 minutes.

They enjoyed their first double-digit advantage on a Qassim Qambar conversion that made it 21- 11 12 minutes in.

The Iranians got no closer than eight goals the rest of the way.

Ahmed finished as the national team’s leading scorer with seven goals, while skipper Hussain Al Sayyad added six.

Nasser, Qambar and Mahdi Saad fired in three goals apiece, while Ali Eid and Hassan Al Samaheeji had two goals each.

Rounding out the Bahrain scorers with a goal apiece were Mohammed Rabea, Mohammed Abdulredha and Ali Mirza.

Star goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain registered 11 saves in the contest.

Afshin Sadeghi Askari paced Iran in the loss with five goals, while Mohmmadmahdi Behnamnia had four.